Cartoon Tuesday: Where Do They Get the Money?

Editor’s note: Streetsblog is reviving Cartoon Tuesday and featuring the work of Ian Lockwood, a practicing transportation engineer and a Loeb Fellow at Harvard University, on a semi-regular basis. Enjoy.

I agree with the basic point that we should be spending far, far less on the automobile.

But we also need to remember that per capita health care spending in western Europe is only about one-half as much as in the United States, while their health is better. Likewise, though it is less well known, their per capita spending on education is only about three-quarters as much as in the United States, while their results are better.

We don’t need to spend less on cars and freeways so we can spend more on health care and education. We need to reject consumerism across the board and to realize that spending more is not the key to living better.

Matt K.

Charles_Siegel -

Just because the United States as a whole spends more doesn’t mean that rich school districts and poor school districts are treated the same here.

The U.S. has vast income inequalities and geo-economic injustices that are contributing to our education crisis.

Anonymous

Considering that Greece is about to default and that Italy, Spain and Portugal are not far behind, this comic isn’t very funny. Europe really doesn’t have the money.

Charles_Siegel

Matt K, I agree completely that the US has vast inequalities that contribute to unequal outcomes, not only in education but also in health.

I would like to see us reduce inequality dramatically with a much more progressive tax system and a much larger earned-income tax credit. I would be happy to go back to the 92% maximum marginal tax rate of the Eisenhower era.

But that doesn’t justify this cartoon’s claim that Americans in general should spend less on cars in order to spend more on health care and education.

Anonymous

With regard to education spending, at least, I’m given to understand that a pretty big chunk of would actually fall under the category of “health care spending” in other countries, in the the schools are the de-facto health care provider for disabled children.